The sorcery of words

Published 4:00 am, Thursday, October 28, 1999

So your kids have read all the Harry Potter books 10 times, even while brushing their teeth, eating breakfast and supposedly doing homework.

So what? They still can't get tickets to see the celebrated British author, a writer who's sparking the kind of fervor usually reserved for royalty and rock stars.

J.K. Rowling herself, in the flesh, is visiting four Bay Area independent bookstores this week, and no amount of fancy talking will get you in. The tickets - all of them free with the purchase of her newly released third book - are gone.

These small literary establishments, more accustomed to cozy readings that might draw a few dozen stalwarts, this week are readying gyms and auditoriums, hiring extra security and opening acts, and double-checking their sound systems.

"My son's grandfather died, and he dropped the tickets by accident into the river at the funeral." (Neither worked.)

"We're book people and used to a fairly tame life. This is so big and glamorous, but at least it's for a kid's book and not a Beanie Baby," said Tracy Wynne, events coordinator at Cover to Cover in Noe Valley, the only sponsor that's holding its reading and book signing in the store.

Those who haven't encountered Harry Potter mania might not understand the frenzy over a fantasy series about an orphaned young wizard.

But slide over Pok*mon. To kids who've read the three books - "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,"

"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" - standing in line a few measly hours in September to buy the third book and get tickets was nothing.

They want to talk flying broomsticks, sinister sorcerers and magic potions. Fans, many young enough to believe in

"every flavor beans" and many who wish they did, have mobbed Rowling's other appearances across the country. In New Jersey earlier this month, more than 1,000 fans had to be turned away.

Groundbreaking book &lt;

All in all, the Harry Potter faithful have catapulted the books to the top three spots on the New York Times bestseller list - a first for a children's book series. More than 8 million copies of the books have been sold by the U.S. publisher, Scholastic Inc.

"We worked really hard to get this," said Lilla Weinberger, co-owner with her husband, Andy, of Readers Books in Sonoma, which is hosting a Rowling reading Friday evening.

The store, which is co-sponsoring the visit with Copperfield's Books, is using the gymnasium at Maria Carillo High School in Santa Rosa. The 2,400 lucky ticket holders are being asked to park at city elementary schools, where a bus will pick them up and take them to the high school.

While the chosen wait to have their books signed, they will be entertained by a "dramatic reenactment" of scenes from one of the books, kids doing break dancing and magic.

8 tickets maximum &lt;

Not to be outdone, Storyteller in Lafayette is offering snacks, puzzles and a visit from an owl that lives at the nearby Lindsay Wildlife Museum. The Storyteller reading - for a modest 450 - is being held at Temple Isaiah. Some customers bought eight copies of the third book - the maximum allowed for any single buyer - to get tickets for class field trips.

"It's blowing us away," said Valerie Lewis, a co-owner of Hicklebee's in San Jose, which has arranged for the appearance at a high school gym.

Hicklebee's gave away 1,000 tickets, but with its event looming Thursday night, it was still getting desperate calls on Wednesday. Lewis, who said her staff is suffering from jarred nerves, discovered that some people were calling all four stores with the same sob stories.

"It's hard for us," she said. "We tend to say OK, and the first few times we went for it." The store will be giving away replicas of Nimbus 2000 broomsticks (the one flown by Harry Potter) and T-shirts. People dressed like the book's characters will lead a parade of similarly dressed children.

Disappointed fans who couldn't get tickets are in good company with bookstores that didn't get to host the visits. Scholastic officials said they took the unusual step of requiring stores to submit detailed proposals for how they'd handle the visit - including sales and security - and why they should be chosen.

The company then picked a variety of stores, some chains and some independents. In Noe Valley, Cover to Cover scored its visit through old-fashioned loyalty.

Owner Nicky Salan, who started the store more than 25 years ago from her home in the Upper Haight, said she and other staff met Rowling at a booksellers dinner last year before she was a megastar, and "it was love at first sight."

They were early supporters of the first book, which the staff read and recognized as a true find.

"She's a real down-to-earth lady," said children's book buyer Shirly Masengill of the author, who wrote the books in Edinburgh cafes while her baby daughter slept.

"She's not a celebrity, but she's being turned into one."

The store, known more for its mother-daughter and

"Moby-Dick" book groups than the promotion of ultra-famous writers, gave out only about 250 tickets and kept the event in the neighborhood store.

"We wanted our own kids to come," Salan said.

Still, small as it is, the store is installing a set resembling the Hogwarts School of Wizardry. A model of the giant Hagrid will be posted outside.

With all the hubbub, there are those who worry that the volume of publicity surrounding the three Harry Potter books - more are scheduled for publication - will mar what they say is destined to become a classic piece of literature.

A movie is already in the making. Will there soon be Harry Potter dolls and toothpaste?

"I would scoff at the whole celebrity quality if it weren't for the fact that they are good books, and the kids themselves are driving it," said Wynne of Cover to Cover.&lt;

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